


Nightmare

by Musical_Fandom



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi Goro Needs Therapy, Blood, Emotional Hurt, Nightmares, Non-Graphic Violence, None of it's real though, One Shot, Persona 5: The Royal, Spoilers, Status Effects
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:00:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29610474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musical_Fandom/pseuds/Musical_Fandom
Summary: Akechi is shaken after a nightmare induced by a status effect.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro & Persona 5 Protagonist
Kudos: 28





	Nightmare

_The grey hall seemed to stretch on forever. Each step he took felt like a step closer to his own destruction. Still, he couldn't stop walking. Nothing could stop him from doing what he was meant to. Not the growing nausea and certainly not the warm feelings that bloomed in his chest whenever Kurusu smiled at him. None of it was enough to sway him from his goal, no matter how much he wished he could stop._

_A guard stood at the door. The pitiful fool was blissfully unaware of the fate that awaited him. He was simply a pawn, one that needed to be sacrificed to capture the king. It wasn't a massive or tragic loss. Not like the other light he was meant to snuff out. He wouldn't regret taking out one corrupt guard. His only friend however..._

_There was no time to dwell on things like regret. Not when his most important target was sitting in front of him. His eyes widened, perhaps with shock, maybe with fear. It didn't matter. It was the same as every other time, yet, so different. He'd never cared about his other targets. He'd never even thought of his other targets as human, not when they all stared him down with the same yellow eyes. Not when they'd fought so savagely to end his life before he could end theirs but this was different. **Kurusu** was different. His eyes were grey, not yellow. There was no fight, no monsters to let him escape the reality of what he was doing. They were just two kids. _

_Kurusu's gaze was difficult to read. There were far too many emotions to catalog. Fear, sadness, those were expected, he was going to die, but there was something else. Pity. He couldn't stand it. Pity from the boy he was supposed to shoot in the head. Kurusu should not have been the one looking down on him. It should have been the other way around. **Kurusu** was the pathetic one, yet, he had the audacity to look at him like that. _

_Akechi shot and shot again. His hands trembled as he unloaded all of his bullets into Akira's head. When the gun was empty, Akira laughed. Akechi stepped back as Akira stood. A red curtain of blood poured from his head and onto the table. Akira approached. He **should** have been dead, yet there he was. Akechi couldn't take his eyes off the walking corpse. He backed up until he hit the wall and frantically grabbed for the door handle. His hand was met with a smooth wall. He was trapped. _

_"Akechi~" Akira cooed. He continued to walk towards Akechi. His laughter grew louder. It echoed off the walls of the small room. "Where are you going?"_

_Akechi closed his eyes. He dropped the gun and covered his ears. "You're supposed to be dead." A cold hand caressed his cheek. "I killed you."_

_The laughter abruptly stopped but the hand did not leave. "Do you really think **you** could kill me?" _

_"You **lost** the game." Akechi opened his eyes to see Kurusu staring at him. His eyes were dull and glassy. Akechi wanted to look away but he couldn't. Akira held him in place. He smiled and leaned his head forward. Akechi could feel the warm blood coat his forehead as they touched. _

_"Worthless." Akira whispered. He brushed Akechi's hair out of his face. "If you can't even do this right, what are you good for?" Akechi tried to push Akira away but he didn't move. He just laughed at Akechi's efforts. "All you do is **ruin** everything you touch." _

_"Shut up!" Akechi yelled. Akira gave him an amused look. He closed his eyes again. "Just shut up..."_

_"A few years earlier? You were still **you** back then. What difference would it have made? You could have **ruined** my life sooner." _

_Akechi couldn't breathe. He needed space. He needed to escape. He couldn't be in the same room as the corpse anymore._

_Akira's harsh laughter echoed through his mind. Akechi pressed his hands against his ears even harder but it didn't stop. It just kept going and going. He couldn't take it anymore._

_" **You** did this, isn't this what you **wanted?** " The corpse mocked. "Or did you think it would all be okay? That you could just **forget** everything you did to me?" _

_" **Shut up!** " He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't-_

Akechi's eyes shot open as a sense of cold washed over him. He looked around as his mind caught up with him. He wasn't in the interrogation room. He was in Mementos, surrounded by the Phantom Thieves. A shadow stood in front of them with a gaping wound. Akechi watched as Akira made quick work of it. Akira who was completely fine. No wounds, no blood, no mocking laughter.

"Crow-senpai, are you okay?" Violet asked. Akechi realized that whatever battle they had been in ended when Akira killed the shadow.

"I believe so." He glanced at Akira one last time before he turned his attention to the rest of the Phantom Thieves. "What happened?"

"I didn't think it was possible," Mona began. "But you were hit with two status ailments at once!"

"Lucky me."

The cat transformed into a bus, standing out harshly against the bright white of Mementos. It was strange just how different the area was from the others and even stranger how one person could be powerful enought to make his own area of Mementos.

As everyone piled into the car, Akechi noticed how Akira lingered outside to speak to Noir. The two came to some sort of agreement before Noir slid in the passenger's seat next to Queen. Akira joined shortly after, taking the seat next to Akechi.

"How are you feeling?" He asked. Akechi looked at him for a moment. Behind his mask, he saw a mix of emotions. Concern, relief, _pity_ , the image of Akira staring at him in the interrogation room came to mind. 

Akechi's eyes were drawn to the floor. He didn't want to think about the dream (nightmare?) anymore. "I'm fine Joker." He said harshly. "Save your concern for someone who needs it." He didn't dare look Akira in the eyes.

"If you ever want to talk about it-"

"I _said_ , save it." Akechi glared at the floor instead of Akira. A ridiculous part of him worried that he would find the Akira from his dream if he looked up. A less ridiculous part thought Akira would see him as weak if he allowed eye contact. He'd falter and Akira would think he couldn't handle things.

The group managed to make it to the new depths without further issue. Oracle shut down the information gathering in Mementos which caused the obstacle in their way to be cleared as well. The rude out was similarly uneventful. Queen made sure to avoid any shadows in their way instead of allowing them to fight. It wasn't difficult to guess the reason why, especially when no one was actually horribly tired or injured.

When they left Mementos, Akechi was greeted with the familiar sights of Shibuya. He grimaced when he saw all the smiling faces. 

Everyone went their separate ways almost immediately. Everyone except Akira who lingered. Under his glasses, Akechi could see the same worried expression from before.

"Doesn't your cat keep you on a strict curfew?" Akechi asked as he pushed past Akira on his way to the station. Akira followed him, making sure to keep pace.

"He knows I'll be home at some point."

"What do you want Akira?"

"I was wondering if you'd want to head to Jazz Jin?"

Akechi stopped walking. He looked at Akira for only a second before he had to look away. Once again, the image of him with a bullet in his head was too much. "Aren't you tired?"

"I'm not too tired to go out for drinks." Akira paused for a second. "Non-alcoholic drinks."

"Unfortunately." Akechi sighed. "Fine, I'll go."

"Good, I can cover your train fare-"

"I think I can afford two hundred yen Akira. I'm not dirt poor like Kitagawa."

The train ride to Kichijoji was quiet. A lack of people combined with Akechi's unwillingness to start a conversation led to a tense silence between Akechi and Akira. Every so often, Akechi caught Akira looking at him. Concern, _pity,_ lingered in his gaze. It made Akechi sick. The longer he stayed with Akira, the more he was starting to regret it.

Sitting together at Jazz Jin turned out to not be any better. Akechi refused to speak and Akira didn't seem inclined to push a conversation. They sat there somewhat awkwardly enjoying drinks and listening to the music. 

It was late when Akira finally spoke up. "So... are you sure you're okay?"

"I already told you-"

"Yeah, I know but it was weird." Akira looked down and swirled what was left of his drink with his straw. "None of us have ever seen two status ailments at once."

"It's nothing too serious." Akechi insisted.

"So you've dealt with that before?" Akechi paused for a moment. He realized the moment was too long when Akira gave him a knowing look. "Do you think it has to do with Maruki?"

Akechi hummed. "Perhaps." He looked down at his drink. "What was the other ailment? I assume the first must have been sleep considering the fact that I woke up, but what was the other?"

"Despair."

"I see. That would-" Akechi stopped himself before he could say too much. He shook his head. "Nevermind."

Despair. It made sense in hindsight. The nightmare he'd found himself in had been particularly miserable. He dreaded the idea of something like that happening again. The thought of Akira trapped in a nightmare while completely vulnerable to shadows left Akechi with an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach. Maruki's meddling with the Metaverse opened up far too many possibilities for things to go wrong. Far too many unexpected variables had been thrown into the equation.

"So, what happened?" Akira asked. He paused for a second before he quickly amended his question. "What happened with the status effect, was it different than usual or..."

"It was just like a regular dormia." Akechi lied. "If you hadn't told me otherwise, I wouldn't have even known anything strange had happened."

Akira nodded, looking very much like he didn't believe him. Akechi wasn't sure whether to feel proud that his rival wasn't as stupid a his friends or annoyed. He eventually settled on an unpleasant mix of both.

"You know, if you ever want to talk-"

"Save it Akira." Akechi glared at him, fighting the urge to look away. "I don't need your damn pity."

"That's not-" Akira suddenly stopped. He sighed and shook his head. "I'm just worried about my friend."

"Well, I don't appreciate the sentiment. We aren't _friends_ Akira, this is all just a temporary arrangement."

"Yeah..." Akira sighed once again. "I know. Just... if you have any problems or anything- we all need to be at our best to challenge Maruki."

Akechi simply nodded before he checked the time on his phone. It had hardly been a couple hours since they'd arrived despite the fact that it felt like they'd been sitting there for an eternity. He looked at Akira, really looked at him, for the first time since the incident. He looked exhausted. His movements were too slow, his eyes seemed too heavy.

"It's getting late." He suddenly announced before he stood. "I think we should call it a night."

Akira looked up at him and reluctantly nodded. "Yeah... you're right." He smiled at Akechi. It was warm and nothing like the teasing smirk the corpse from his dream had worn.

Akira parted ways with Akechi once they got to the station. After quick goodbyes, they were on their respective lines. Akechi couldn't stop thinking about Akira. He failed to crush the warm feeling that seemed to erupt in his chest as he thought about the younger boy. Still, getting any more attached than he already was, it was dangerous. Feeling any sort of positive emotion was dangerous in this reality. He couldn't afford to let himself, or worse, _Akira_ , fall victim to the reality around them just because of some silly feelings. They needed to keep fighting no matter the obstacle.


End file.
